Electric air-conditioners and refrigerators are well known devices. These have three main parts—a compressor, a condenser and an evaporator. A liquid refrigerant is passed through the evaporator and the condenser in turns, via the compressor. As the liquid evaporates it exchanges heat from the air around it. The evaporated liquid is condensed again. This cycle is repeated till the desired temperature inside is reached at which a thermostat may keep the cycles suspended till a different temperature is reached again when the cycles are repeated all over again. However, in cold climates the flow of liquid may be reversed to heat the room.
Ice cooled room coolers are also known in which ice is put in a chamber provided, for exchanging heat with the ambient air. The limitation of such devices is that ice has to be brought in from outside in the machine and cooling effectiveness tapers down with the ice melting and the water acquiring higher temperature.
LU MINGHUI in CN 1594992 has proposed in indoor set of cabinet air-conditioner with closed refrigerating chamber. This has limited application, as it cannot be retrofitted or utilized in existing air-conditioning equipment e.g. conventional models mounted on the walls or ceilings. It will have disadvantages of consuming more space and being costlier.
Various drink-cooling holders have been disclosed for being used in cars, e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,560,983, 5,697,587 and 5,697,587.
The major drawback of the prior arts is that there is nothing that teaches how to effectively utilize a new grille of a conventional room air-conditioner also as a refrigeration/heating cabinet for not only storage of objects but also for improving the performance of the air-conditioner in extreme conditions, which the present invention does, as will be explained below.